U.S. stocks surged on Monday as expectations revived that the Iran war could end, pushing all three major Wall Street indexes sharply higher.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1,125.07 points, or 2.49 percent, to close at 46,341.21.

The S&P 500 gained 184.80 points, or 2.91 percent, to end at 6,528.52, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 795.99 points, or 3.83 percent, to finish at 21,590.63.

The move reflected expectations that the Iran war could end soon, marking the biggest daily rise since May last year.

International oil prices fell, U.S. Treasury prices extended gains and global gold prices also rose.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that U.S. President Donald Trump told aides he is willing to end the Iran war without reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

In a phone interview with the New York Post on Monday, Trump said the U.S. military would not conduct the Iran war for long. He added that countries using the Strait of Hormuz would resolve the issue of reopening it.

Still, gains narrowed during the session after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the next few days would be critical and threatened more intense strikes if Iran does not agree.

In the afternoon, remarks by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian were also reported.

Pezeshkian told European Council President Antonio Costa in a phone call that Iran has never sought tension or war and would have the necessary will to end the war if certain conditions are met, Tass reported, citing Iran's presidential office.

He was also reported as repeatedly saying that those conditions would be met, particularly if there is a guarantee that attacks will not occur.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also directly mentioned communication with the United States.

In an interview with Qatar's Al Jazeera, Araghchi said he is receiving messages directly from U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff. He added that this does not mean "official negotiations."

After a string of declines amid rising tension, including Trump's review of sending ground troops, Wall Street appears to be building optimism by attaching significance to even small signals.

International oil prices, which had not recently stopped rising, eased on the day.

WTI futures for May delivery settled down 1.46 percent at $101.38 a barrel.

Brent futures for May delivery, the international oil benchmark, settled up 4.94 percent at $118.35 a barrel, the highest since June 16, 2022.

Michael Bailey (마이클 베일리) of FBB Capital Partners said, "The market has taken a big hit for more than a month and expectations have fallen so low that even a small hope can now be valued much more."

Eric Diton (에릭 디튼), CEO of Wealth Alliance, said, "Because the stock market likes any move toward ending the war, a relief rally is appearing," adding, "But we are not completely out yet."

He added, "Basically, if we do not solve the oil issue, we will continue to be under pressure."

The indexes ended higher on the day, but for the month the S&P 500 fell 5.1 percent in March for its worst performance since 2022. The Dow dropped 5.4 percent, ending a 10-month run of gains, and the Nasdaq fell 4.8 percent.

As risk appetite regained strength, cryptocurrency prices rose and the dollar index fell on the day.

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.6 percent, while bitcoin and ethereum rose 1.8 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively, to $67,791.18 and $2,096.04.

The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note fell 3 basis points to 4.32 percent.

Spot gold rose 3.8 percent to $4,684.45 an ounce.

[Yonhap News Agency]